Records tumble as imperious Dustin Johnson sweeps rivals aside to claim first US Masters title

Johnson now has lifetime access to the infinitely preferable Champions Locker Room at Augusta National after surviving a shaky start to ease to a five-shot victory over Australia’s Cameron Smith and South Korea’s Sungjae Im.

The world number one, who tested positive for Covid-19 in October, carded a closing 68 to finish an incredible 20 under par, surpassing the tournament record of 18 under set by Tiger Woods in 1997 and matched by Jordan Spieth in 2015.

Smith and Im’s totals of 15 under par are the best by a runner-up in tournament history and Smith also became the first player to break 70 in all four rounds, but Johnson was a class apart and now has two wins, three runners-up finishes, a third and a sixth in his last seven starts.

Johnson was aiming to be the first world number one to win the Masters since Woods in 2002, but had been 0-4 when leading or sharing the lead after 54 holes in a major championship.

The 36-year-old took a three-shot lead into the final round of the US Open at Pebble Beach in 2010 but collapsed to a closing 82, while five years later he three-putted from 12 feet on the 72nd hole at Chambers Bay to finish a shot behind Jordan Spieth.

Johnson finally secured his first major title in the 2016 US Open at Oakmont, but he fell from tied first to eighth at Shinnecock Hills two years later and failed to convert a one-shot lead in the US PGA Championship in August.

Another painful failure looked a worrying possibility as Johnson saw his four-shot overnight advantage reduced to a single stroke when he played the first five holes in one over as Smith and Im picked up two early birdies.

Johnson produced a brilliant response with a birdie on the par-three sixth and, with Im making a bogey, the lead was briefly back to three until Smith conjured an amazing birdie from the trees on the seventh.

Smith was unable to pick up a shot on the par-five eighth but produced another incredible recovery shot from the pine straw on the ninth that took a fortunate bounce and rolled down to four feet to set up a birdie.

Johnson had birdied the eighth moments earlier to give himself a two-shot lead heading towards the back nine and was given some welcome breathing space when Smith dropped a shot on the difficult 11th.

With mud on his ball in the 13th fairway, Johnson wisely opted against going for the green in two on the par five but calmly hit his third shot to 12 feet and holed the birdie putt. Johnson was not finished yet and further birdies on the 14th and 15th made him the first player in tournament history to reach 20 under par.

Johnson, who was presented with his green jacket by defending champion Woods in the Butler Cabin, said: “It’s always tough to get it done in a major, no matter how good you’re playing it’s hard.

“I was nervous all day. I could feel it. The Masters to me is the biggest tournament, it’s the one I wanted to win the most.

“I’m just very proud of the way I handled myself and the way I finished off the golf tournament.

“Honestly it still feels like a dream. As a kid, dreaming about winning the Masters, having Tiger put the green jacket on you, it still seems like it’s a dream but I’m here and what a great feeling it is and I couldn’t be more excited.”

Johnson tweeted: “A dream come true. I’ll remember this day at @TheMasters for the rest of my life. #themasters”

Bryson DeChambeau will prioritise regaining full fitness after the pre-tournament favourite struggled to a tie for 34th.

DeChambeau was expected to challenge for back-to-back major titles following his commanding victory in the US Open at Winged Foot in September, but was never a factor at Augusta National.

The world number six complained of feeling unwell and dizzy during Friday’s play and underwent a Covid-19 test, which came back negative.

“I’ve got to fix whatever is going on up here,” DeChambeau said as he gestured to his head after a final round of 73. I have no idea (what’s wrong). Just dizziness. It’s only when I go from down to up, so I can’t even like think and talk right now.

“But that’s just what happens, I go down and up and my brain gets all disoriented. I’ve got to fix that and once I fix it I’ll be even better than now, and when something arises in the future, I’ll just keep trying to fix it.”

Sheffield’s Danny Willett finished 16 shots adrift of Johnson on 284, with Matt Fitzpatrick a further three adrift.

“We’ve all been there, unfortunately. Unfortunately I’ve been there and you just have to turn around and figure out the next shot, and I was able to do that coming home.”

Final round scores & totals (USA unless stated, par 72):

268 Dustin Johnson 65 70 65 68

273 Cameron Smith (Aus) 67 68 69 69, Sungjae Im (Kor) 66 70 68 69

276 Justin Thomas 66 69 71 70

277 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 75 66 67 69, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 65 73 67 72

278 Brooks Koepka 70 69 69 70, Jon Rahm (Spa) 69 66 72 71, Cheng-Tsung Pan

(Tai) 70 66 74 68

279 Patrick Reed 68 68 71 72, Corey Conners (Can) 74 65 71 69, Webb Simpson 67

73 71 68

280 Kevin Na 73 68 69 70, Abraham Ancer (Mex) 68 67 69 76, Hideki Matsuyama

(Jpn) 68 68 72 72, Marc Leishman (Aus) 70 72 70 68

281 Xander Schauffele 67 73 71 70, Patrick Cantlay 70 66 73 72

282 Scottie Scheffler 71 68 72 71, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 71 66 71 74, Sebastian

Munoz (Col) 70 68 69 75, Cameron Champ 68 74 68 72

283 Justin Rose (Eng) 67 70 76 70, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 68 70 75 70

284 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 73 71 69 71, Shane Lowry (Irl) 74 69 68 73, Ian

Poulter (Eng) 72 71 71 70, Danny Willett (Eng) 71 66 74 73

285 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 68 73 73 71, Sung Kang (Kor) 75 69 71 70, Rickie

Fowler 70 70 75 70, Nick Taylor (Can) 72 72 69 72, Chez Reavie 71 72 72 70

286 Adam Scott (Aus) 70 72 71 73, Bryson DeChambeau 70 74 69 73, (a) Andy

Ogletree 73 70 71 72, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 70 71 73 72

287 Tony Finau 69 75 71 72, Tiger Woods 68 71 72 76, Christiaan Bezuidenhout

(Rsa) 69 73 74 71, Paul Casey (Eng) 65 74 71 77

Billy Horschel 70 70 72 75, Lee Westwood (Eng) 68 74 71 74, 288 Shugo Imahira

(Jpn) 72 70 72 74, Collin Morikawa 70 74 70 74

289 Matt Wallace (Eng) 69 73 70 77, Victor Perez (Fra) 70 71 76 72, Jordan

Spieth 74 70 73 72, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 74 70 73 72, Charles Howell III 71

70 74 74

290 Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 69 71 75 75, Zach Johnson 73 71 73 73, Mike Weir

(Can) 71 72 71 76, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 73 71 74 72

291 Phil Mickelson 69 70 79 73, (a) John Augenstein 69 72 75 75

292 Bubba Watson 74 69 71 78

294 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 71 72 78 73

295 Brandt Snedeker 71 71 79 74

296 Jimmy Walker 71 73 76 76

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